The Poetic Representation of Virtues and Vices in the Middle English Alliterative Revival

The present research is devoted to role of symbolism and allegory in 14th-century English alliterative revival poetry. The work considers both the typical representatives of the alliteration revival (“Gawain” poet and William Langland), and William Chaucer, who is not generally considered as follower of this tradition. The paper provides a comparative analysis of the texts to determine how these techniques affect the texts and how they represent the vices and virtues in the poems. Texts about medieval symbolism, allegory, and theological teachings are the main theoretical material. The subject of the study is three key Middle English texts of the 14th century, two of which are considered to be monuments of alliteration revival. Several works of different authors are considered in this paper. It includes the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” by anonymous poet, the collection of twenty-four novels “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer and “Piers Plowman” by William Langland.